Bloggoversary 2022: What I Did to Celebrate Twelve Years of Playing in the Pages

If, at the age of sixteen, I had birthed a person instead of a blog, that child would be gearing up for their entry into middle school. 

Obviously I'm glad that instead of inflicting a whole other human being into the existential torment of surviving as a preteen in the age of TikTok, I simply generated a spot on the Internet where I could rave about Dungeons and Dragons, Romance Novels, Cookbooks, and The Bachelor franchises with impunity. It's wild that I've been writing (and raving) here in my cozy little corner of the Internet for a good Twelve years now. 

That being said, it's not as impressive as when it was Ten, you know? Kind of like how your tenth birthday was a huge deal to your parents, and all this fuss was made about you entering your double digit years, while your twelfth birthday was mainly oriented around figuring out whether it really was possible to die of embarrassment while the servers performed their most unenthusiastic rendition of "Happy Birthday" inside a Red Robin. 

Still, I'm here. I'm blogging. I'm drinking a beverage - water, because my daily habits are still recovering from dehydration in the recent heat wave - and I'm trying to cohesively generate a means of expressing how much the last decade-plus of writing about books, publishing trends, personal obsessions, and more has meant to me. 

My brother celebrated with me, too.

How about this: as with many things, I feel so lucky to have found something that was uniquely mine to build. This was my plot of land to till; look what has grown.

(Answer options: An impressive scope of subject matter and a progressively declining amount of actual book reviews. A whole lot of enthusiasm for website style guides and the best understanding of Canva present in my friend group. An unwelcome reliance on Goodreads Challenge goals with which to measure and judge the results of my own tender personal hobbies, and a near-addictive reliance on the Daily eBook Deals section of Amazon's Kindle selections. 

Cat pose.

A five-part series about all of the books I read during one Summer's worth of family camping trips, and a five-part series about that time my brother bought me a box of 25 discounted backlist Paranormal Romance novels. A two-part series about what books to read if you were pissed off with the results of the 2016 Election, and a two-part series about how to hack your reading habits depending on your D&D Character Alignment. 

And what I'm coming to understand now is a serious dearth of photos of my cat, who has only ever deserved the spotlight.) 

Anyways. I'm grateful to be here, and obviously I'm still writing. I'm grateful to be writing elsewhere, too, in ways that you're not quite ready to read just yet. I'm happy to be reading, and adding books to my shelf at a higher rate than I could ever possibly consume. I'm having a good time doing it and being here, and I hope you are, too. 

He's nearly as tall as the damn shelves.

Barnes and Noble run

I first started implementing the practice of buying books for myself on my Bloggoversary on my Fifth, when I was deep in the trenches of a Book Buying Ban and was looking for a spoon with which I might tunnel out of a prison of my own making. However, over the years, I've gotten a bit more lax about the amount of effort I put into making it to five: as it turns out, there are very few things in life I believe are worth paying $30 for, least of all hardcovers that I haven't even read yet. 

Still, it's tradition, which is why I deliberately maneuvered my planning around my busy younger brother's schedule specifically so that he'd be able to celebrate with me. So, on July 5th - a good near-twenty days before my actual Bloggoversary - we trundled off to our local B&N branch for a couple house' browsing. 

What I Bought: 

The White Album, Joan Didion

Thanks to recent thrift shop finds, I have been steadily building a mini catalog of Didion's work, and haven't actually read any of it yet. Still, figured that while I've got this collection growing, might as well throw one of her most famous entries onto the pile. 

Where the Drowned Girls Go, Seanan McGuire

I love the Wayward Children series so much that it has become one of my auto-recommendations to anyone looking for accessible Fantasy reads. I stockpile titles for rainy days, so I haven't read Across the Green Grass Fields yet, but it soothes my heart to know I have it near me. 

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine

Am I known for reading long, dense Science Fiction? No. At least, not since completing William Gibson's Neuromancer - a novel none of my friends had ever heard of before - back in high school (and hating every single second). Still, I've been hearing a ton of good reviews about this one, and have been looking for an entry back into the greater genre.

The Coward, Stephen Aryan

A hook-worthy name and a unique, compelling blurb brought this one to my attention in the corner of the SF / F shelves. I primarily bought this one because my brother said he'd read it when I was done, which is a not-uncommon factor in decisions about the books I buy. 

Another tradition:
85 Degree Bakery
afterwards.

What My Brother Bought: 

The Shadow of What Was Lost, James Islington

The Siren Depths (Raksura #3), Martha Wells

Arcanium Unbounded, Brandon Sanderson

It's very telling about each of us as people - and of our book collection habits - that my brother has finished almost all of his titles in the month since then, and I haven't so much as opened the front cover of a single of mine. 

My Actual Bloggoversary

I spent the real date of my Bloggoversary returning from a hellacious camping trip, and the day afterwards grappling with the results of my allergy panel testing (verdict: most of the things that grow outside in Washington State), so the celebration came on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday, which is how I like them. 

I woke up and ran to the local smoothie place for breakfast, and took my time watering the garden so I could enjoy it properly. I streamed my latest movie adaptation obsession - Hulu's Fire Island, based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - and had its hilarious dialogue and truly inspirational soundtrack playing in the background as I tackled a bunch of household chores that needed doing. 

After a hearty lunch, I decided to venture off to my local library, the sustenance necessary as I was undertaking a challenge I haven't had cause to attempt in over a decade: navigating the Junior Fiction section, in order to find the titles that would eliminate "Reread Childhood Favorite" from my Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo card. 

The choices I was planning on selecting were thankfully there: Spiderwick Chronicles Volumes One and Two (The Field Guide and The Seeing Stone, respectively) by Holly Black, with illustrations by Toy Diterlizzi.

I also picked up:

Dog Songs, Mary Oliver 

The Ex Hex, Erin Sterling (for the "Halloween" box on my Ripped Bodice Summer Book Bingo card)

I ran back home, took some lackluster photos for Instagram, and immediately tore through the first Spiderwick book over Oreos and Milk (as the vibe I was going for skewed towards youthful enthusiasm. Obviously it hit the mark). I set up an easy dinner to appease my family, and begged my Mom to drive around a local scenic area with me in order to beat the heat with a little bit of expensive air conditioning.

And of course, at the end of the day, we came home and I definitely did not write a blogpost for an entire week about it. 

To be fair, I have been busy reading. 

Thanks for twelve years. We're going to have to actually find something really great to do to celebrate the 13th one, don't you think?